Good and Cheap Challenge

OK - so all summer long there was the Ice Bucket Challenge. I thought it was kinda dumb, but I hope it actually raised some money. Now, it seems that what is popular is the Food Stamp budget challenge, especially of famous people doing it, or trying to do it. That’s fine and good, and the person who tries to do that may become more sensitive to the needs of people on constrained budgets. But it doesn’t help the people in need.

As has been pointed out, the great majority of people who receive food stamps receive it as a supplement to their family income. However, even that minority, even a small percentage, adds up to a lot of people.

Some months ago, a nutritionist, Leanne Brown, decided to write a cookbook to help people on limited budgets know about delicious, healthy inexpensive ways to stretch their budgets. The thing is, she made the cookbook FREE and DOWNLOADABLE! Imagine that! She also published a print version and for each book that was pre-order for purchase, she GAVE a book away to food pantries and other organizations that could distribute it to needy people. In fact, she gave away over 9,000 cookbooks through her kickstarter site. Amazing!

We need to support this. We need to do something. And that’s where this challenge comes in. READY?

I HEREBY CHALLENGE YOU TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF GOOD AND CHEAP, FIX THREE MAIN-DISH RECIPES FROM THE COOKBOOK (OR EVEN MORE, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET INTO THIS), UPLOAD THE PICTURES TO YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE, TELL WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE OF THE RECIPES (AND HOW YOU ADAPTED IT).

THEN, GO OUT AND MAKE A $50 CONTRIBUTION TO A LOCAL FOOD PANTRY AND/OR WORLDWIDE HUNGER RELIEF PROGRAM.

AND, GO TO AMAZON AND ORDER A PRINT VERSION OF THE COOKBOOK FOR YOURSELF, OR ORDER TWO OR THREE OR MORE - ONE FOR YOURSELF AND THE OTHERS TO SHARE, PREFERABLY WITH A LOCAL FOOD PANTRY. YOUR COOKBOOK WILL PROBABLY BE BACK-ORDERED, BUT YOU CAN WAIT. AFTER ALL, YOU HAVE THE PDF. RIGHT?

GOT IT? GET BUSY!

OH, AND ONCE YOU’VE DONE ALL THAT, NOMINATE SOME OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THE GOOD AND CHEAP CHALLENGE.